Billionaire Rinehart Puts Australian Beef Assets Up for Sale
James Thornhill, Bloomberg News Cows walk through a field during a cattle drive at a farm in Gunnedah, New South Wales, Australia, on Thursday, May 28, 2020. A growing number of Australia s primary producers are mulling the potential for a further tightening of restrictions on Australia s agricultural exports by China. Two thirds of Australiaâs farm production is exported, with almost one third of this, 28%, going to China, including 18% of Australia s total beef production, according to Australia s National Farmers Federation. Photographer: David Gray/Bloomberg , Bloomberg
(Bloomberg) Mining billionaire Gina Rinehart plans to sell a portfolio of seven cattle stations in Australia, looking to cash in on her investment in the properties amid strong global beef demand.
Rinehart’s closely held Hancock Prospecting Pty will become a cornerstone investor in Vulcan Energy Resources Ltd.’s A$120 million ($92 million) institutional share sale, with the proceeds to be used to further the development of the project. It plans to have a definitive feasibility study ready by 2022.
Vulcan, whose shares in Sydney have risen more than threefold this year, hopes to benefit from rising demand for lithium in Europe, which is trying to build up a local battery-manufacturing industry to reduce dependency on Asian suppliers. The company’s pre-feasibilty study values its lithium resources near Offenburg at 2.8 billion euros ($3.4 billion) before taxes.